design:retail - July/August 2020 - 7

JULY/AUGUST 2020

FROM THE EDITOR

DESIGN:RETAIL

On Sparking Creativity...
"Since we're all spending so much time
at home, I'm finding things around the
house to change more frequently. Spring/
summer and fall in the Midwest can be
fantastic, so I'm getting outdoors and
working in the cutting garden and plant
beds more. Experimenting with color differently, mixing plants together in unusual
ways, and even just sitting on the back
porch and watching the water have all been
good ways to spark creative thinking."

"Try reorganizing the furniture and items
in your house or apartment. To be specific,
I have repurposed furniture to different
non-standard uses I hadn't thought of
before, and revealed a space to create an
artwork nook and bar area."

"One of the huge advantages of adopting a
work-from-home/remote-work model is
the ability to change my work environment.
Just the simple act of picking up my laptop
and moving from one place to another is
enough to uncork a creative block. The
other big advantage is being able to spend
this time with my family. There is no one
more creative than my 6-year-old son. He
finds ways to turn the same set of toys into
a completely new adventure every day. It
is amazing how a few minutes of free play
with him can catapult my professional
creativity for the rest of the day."

"This time has been great opportunity to
slow down and simplify the day to day. I
have done more baking these last four to
five months, and getting creative with old
family recipes. Having the time to slow
down and enjoy meals together as a family
and making our kids each responsible for a
dinner once a week. It has been inspiring to
watch them get creative with cooking and
opened my eyes to enjoy that creative process again. This time has also allowed me
to pick up my sketchbook and watercolors,
sit outside with a glass of wine and enjoy
putting pen and paint to paper."

06_drm_0820_FTE-Final.indd 2

"I feel the situation we are in is sparking
innovation and creativity in terms of how
do we think outside the box, and outline
new and unique services offerings? And
engagement with our younger employees
and successors, as its fascinating to hear
their thoughts on not only what is going
on, but their outlook on diversity and new
ways of marketing, engaging and contributing from a community and cultural
perspective. They 'spark' a new way of
thinking, are helping us reset and refresh,
and provide inspiration and spirit for hope
and continuing to believe."

"Elevate your thinking by imagining how
great thinkers/doers from the past would
approach the problem."

"Do something you haven't done before,
no matter how small. My husband and
I opened up a map, found some winding roads to explore, packed a picnic and
went for a drive. We ate our lunch on the
roadside in a beautiful valley we'd never
seen before. It's something small but effective in getting out of the house and seeing
something other than my computer screen.
Another thing we've gotten into is vinyl
albums. We bought a turntable last year
and have been slowly building a collection
of vinyl records to listen to. Engaging with a
vinyl album is a different experience than
listening to music on Spotify or Pandora.
We listen to albums from beginning to end
in a way we hadn't done since cassettes or
CDs (elder Millennial here). And listening
to an album cover to cover is a different
engagement with the artist and the music. It gives me a renewed appreciation for
albums as works of art in their entirety. And
I can't help but draw connections between
beautifully composed music and beautifully composed architecture or design. To
quote from "The Dynamics of Architectural
Form": "...the perpetual forces which organize visual shapes and endow them with
expression were embodied in the geometry
of architecture with a purity found elsewhere only in music."

"Introspection-creating space to let your
mind wander."

"Work to eliminate the stimulus that exists
for its own sake: the emails and the social
media posts and the ad campaigns and
the requests that just fill time and space,
and don't offer real value. Ask direct questions of those you serve, like: 'What do you
need?'; 'How can I help?' and even 'Do you
feel that I care, and if not, what can I do to
get that across to you?' and really listen
to the answers! This works, by the way,
equally well on family, friends, staff, superiors and colleagues!
Be sure to also listen to what matters to
you most, and spend time honoring that.
For example, I am gardening and puttering
about the house more than ever, and have
given up 'sport' shopping trips and reading self-help books (two things I spent time
doing before the world changed that I really
never enjoyed). I guess you might say that
more inspiration is coming from internal
sources for me than ever before.
Lastly, focus on not allowing the doomsayers and their negative predictions to
zap your energy. Yes, there are huge challenges ahead, like figuring out how to deal
with a pandemic and how to combat racism and how to do it against the backdrop
of dysfunctional leadership. But we also
have all of the skills, talents and assets we
need to fix these problems, if we just keep
calm, trust ourselves and each other, and
strive to believe in a better future as we
move forward."

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7/24/20 2:51 PM
design:retail - July/August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - July/August 2020
